Grace

First Day of the Rest of My Life

Picture this. It’s the first day of my first semester of college. I jump out of bed and get ready for my Freshmen Seminar. I was heading to a class called ‘Simple Living.’ Apparently this course had been in my Top Five choices for a Freshman Seminar. The memory of choosing my Freshmen Seminar was hazy. Sitting at the kitchen table, I hmm-ed and hah-ed over my choices, but I don’t remember what I actually chose. Honestly, I’m pretty sure the Simple Living course was the only one that fit into my busy schedule as a music major. There didn’t seem to be any room for a simple living college course. There’s no way to make life at college simple, is there?

Either way, off I go to class. I had no idea this class would going to change the way I looked at the world forever.

A Simple Living College Course Guide

There were a few key elements to this Simple Living college course.

All the students in the class would be living together on the same floor, as a way to build community.

We’d be participating in Simplicity Circles, a small group of people who come together to read literature about living simply and reflect on what we’ve learned.

Each student would be required to write a twenty page paper about an aspect of Simple Living by the end of the semester.

I will be the first to tell you that I didn’t seriously consider the ideas of Simple Living until well after this course was over. In fact, it would take me until the summer before my junior year to take a hard look at the life I was living and turn it into the life I wanted.

What I did know was I had a whole floor of built-in friends. They loved me deeply and wholly, just as I was. After long days in the music building, I would be greeted by my second family, encouraged to spend time with them, and ultimately build friendships that would last for years to come.

What I didn’t know was a few of my floormates would become my core group of friends though college. Two of the girls would become my roommates. We’d complete service projects honoring the history of our small little college town together. I didn’t know my professor would become my mentor and life-long friend. And I really didn’t know that years later, I’d be here. I’m blogging about something I didn’t know anything about just a few short years ago.

Fast Forward: Simple Living in College to Intentional Living Today

But like I mentioned earlier, it would take years before I figured out everything this simple living college course would teach me. I am still learning to this day. I am the first to say, this course changed my life. My journey started in year seventeen in Nicary Hall, but better late than never, right?

What was the event or moment that caused you to consider joining the Simple Living Movements and living with intention? Leave a comment below to let me know!